Loose Connection Headphone Jack MacBook

I just used headphones in mine for the first time. At first I though they weren't working. But then they did come on. Tried several plug-unplug cycles and they always came on after a delay of a second or two. It seems there is an electronic delay between when the phones are plugged in and the output is switched from speaker to earphones and vice-versa. Perhaps that's what you are seeing, too. It's as if the switch is not the usual mechanical switch but somehow done electronically.

Phil

I've tried Sony headphones and some that came with a Sandisk Sansa MP3 player. Both do connect but with a delay as noted.

Phil

I have the same problem - was travelling today and using the headphones with the macbook for the first time - every time I moved enough for the cable to exert the slightest gentle tug then the jack would wiggle and the sound cut out - drove me crazy

got to get this fixed - what did apple do for you?

Yes, I have the same thing. It is a pain because I also connect my Macbook up to my RoKit 5 monitors and so I will be blasting music and set a book down on the desk next to the Macbook and zip...back to the internal speaker which has the quality like some old horror movie in the desert when there's someone walking up to the gas station in the middle of nowhere and you can hear a distant single speaker radio playing a country song...

Should this not be a recall item?? Brutal mistake in my opinion... I have never had an audio device, including all of my Walkmen from the 80s that ever had such a poorly built audio port.

I think this is very poor design, and really, an oversight.

Disappointing... to say the least.. maybe Apple products are so popular now, that design quality is not as important.. who knows...

seems like it's the same with the pro

check this post:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1789076&tstart=0

I'm getting a replacement macbook shipped to me - will post back in a couple of weeks with the result

got my replacement macbook today and ...

it's exactly the same - when a jackplug is inserted into the socket there is a degree of play in the socket - fully pushed in and it works - give a gentle pull, the plug moves back out maybe 0.5mm and, even though the plug stays in the socket, the sound comes out of the speakers - I get the same behaviour from Shure SE110, Apple iPod headphones and adaptor cable

is nobody else experiencing this?

it's a shame but this macbook is going back and I'm asking for a full refund - it's crazy that I can't reliably plug headphones into a €1400 computer - this would have been apple mac number eight for me - the first I ever had to return

this is a universal product problem... It says you are from Finland?? I am in Toronto. I received a replacement too. Same problem. I elevated my call to a really nice customer service person, who was dealing directly with the engineering department. They told him to tell me that they couldn't replicate the issue. This is an absolute lie. I am sorry, but I feel very strongly that they are backpeddling on this issue and not addressing it. How could someone in the engineering department not be able to replicate this problem??

I posted a video on youtube showing exactly what the problem is - is this your problem too?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08FbFn-qsT8

maybe you could refer the engineering department to this video

I will call monday to try to send this replacement back - for me the macbook is unusable like this since 1) I travel a lot and it makes listening to audio while travelling impossible, and 2) my work involves playing audio out through this port

to be fair the socket on the replacement is a little better than the first which was very very loose - but the problem is still there and I can imagine it will only get worse with wear

besides a change in design the only solution for me would be an apple non-standard headphone jack to universal headphone jack adaptor

this seems crazy - I'm surprised not more people are experiencing this - beginning to think I'm paranoid

now I'm hoping that apple will sell me a previous revision macbook pro to replace my old powerbook

Hello from England. Same thing. It's really annoying.

How do I go about getting a replacement? And it also seems that the replacements have the same problem too.

I reported the problem within two weeks of receiving the first macbook and then within a week of receiving the second - apple has a period of "remorse" whereby if you decide you are not happy with your purchase you can return it less a restocking fee - in my case, since it was a clear failing of the machine, they waived the restocking fee and gave me a full refund

I should add that I bought mine from the online apple store - the support and sales staff were very helpful - the video that I put online made it crystal clear what the problem was

before deciding whether to take a third macbook or the full refund I asked them to check with the technical department whether this was a known issue (it wasn't) and I also made a trip to a local reseller to see if I'd just had bad luck or it was a widespread problem (all the unibody macbooks and macbook pros exhibited the same behaviour)

I had been waiting to upgrade to a smaller form macbook that I had long hoped for. The release of the unibody macbook seemed initially to be the answer to these hopes - albeit with no firewire and a poorer quality screen than I expected. I decided I could live with these shortcomings but the macbook as it stands is unusable for me due to this headphone socket issue. Rather than wait for a fix to this unrecognised issue I decided to buy a previous revision macbook pro. Better a last revision mac product than a first revision - pity because otherwise the new macbook was great.

What a bunch of whiners. The audio jack on the iPhone and iPod touch do the same thing. What do you expect when you pull it out? On the Mac they use the same jack for digital audio I/O, and on the Phone/Touch they use it for remote control. Obviously you are shorting the jack when you pull it out like that....What whiners......

Actually, the iPod and iPhone don't do the same thing. You may want to do your research before you insult people. The hardware is different in these products.

Secondly, this is a forum for people to express their honest concerns, and help one another. This is not a forum for slinging insults, and posting comments that are counter-productive to solving legitimate problems.

I think the people involved in this forum for helpful advice would appreciate you no longer making posts.

Thank you.